The Accident Prevention and Investigation Bureau (AIB) has said the Embraer aircraft operated by Associated Airline, which crashed last week Thursday in Lagos killing 13 persons developed faulty flaps and had problems with one of the engines during take off.
Muhtar Usman, Commissioner/CEO of the AIB said on Friday in Abuja that despite warnings from air traffic controllers as well as from the co-pilot on board the aircraft, Captain Abdulraman Yukubu, who was the pilot in command of the aircraft, opted to continue with the fight based on his personal discretion.
Usman, who addressed journalists in Abuja on preliminary investigations and findings from analysis of the black box (containing radio calls, cockpit area microphone and internal recorded conversation between the Captain and Co-pilot) recovered from the crashed aircraft, said there were enough evidences that the co-pilot demanded that the flight be aborted when the aircraft engines were found not to be thrusting (accelerating with enough power) properly. Usman summarised the major findings of preliminary findings to centre on “mechanical and electronic engine control related to the right engine and right engine propeller systems as well as take-off configuration issues with flap settings.”
Said Usman,”the flight crew expressed some concerns about the aircraft prior to departure. Approximately four seconds after engine power was advanced to commence take-off roll, the crew received an automated warning from on board computer voice “take-off flaps…take-off flaps” suggesting that the flaps (which gives balance to the aircraft) were not in the correct position for take off and there is evidence the crew may have chosen not to use flaps for the take off. The warning continued throughout the take-off.
“Approximately seven seconds later, the co-pilot noted that the aircraft was moving slowly as the propeller was not producing enough thrust. At this time, we can state that the right engine appeared to be producing considerably less thrust than the left engine. But the left engine appeared to be working normally.
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